‘They murdered him in front of me’: Rozario family blasts NYPD, mayor for shooting of Ozone Park teen
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The family of Queens 19-year-old Win Rozario called for the firing of the two officers who shot and killed him after he called 911 for mental health reasons in March. Eagle photo by Ryan Schwach
By Ryan Schwach
The family of 19-year-old Win Rozario on Wednesday condemned the NYPD, the mayor and the handling of a March trip to the family’s Ozone Park home by a pair of officers who shot and killed the teen a few minutes after arriving.
The Queens Bangladeshi family, alongside advocates and elected officials, stood on the steps of City Hall this week and called for the firing of NYPD officers Salvatore Alongi and Matthew Cianfrocco. They also blasted the NYPD for its handling of the shooting in the days that followed, and the mayor for his response to the killing of the teen.
“[They] killed my son in a minute – before they came, everything was calm,” said Rozario’s mother, Notan Ava Costa, through a translator. “They came and created chaos and murdered him in front of me.”
Ava Costa was present at the shooting and watched as her son was shot five times by police.
The press conference marked the first time the Rozario family had spoken publicly since the shooting on March 27 and since the troubling body camera footage of the incident was released to the public last week.
“You can imagine the pain I have and how much I miss Win,” the teenager’s mother said. “Win was just a child. He was a teenager with his whole life ahead of him.”
Ava Costa and Win’s father, Francis Rozario, spoke of their son as a kid who had a firm idea of right and wrong, who did well at school and who one day aspired to join the U.S. military.
“He was very smart and meritorious, very organized,” said Francis Rozario also through a translator. “He always wanted to do what was right, but he did not care about getting credit for it.”
In addition to losing their family member, the Rozarios said they suffered further humiliation at the hands of the NYPD following the shooting.
Ava Costa and Rozario’s brother, 17-year-old Utsho Rozario, were brought to a police precinct and “interrogated” by police after the killing. They were also kept out of their home for two days following Rozario’s death.
“After my brother was killed, the NYPD treated me and my mother like we were criminals,” said Utsho.
The 17-year-old said that both he and his mom were immediately taken to the 102nd Precinct. Utsho, who was wearing shorts and a sweatshirt, said that he wasn’t allowed to change despite the chilly weather.
Utsho also said they were not able to retrieve his parents’ medication or their family cat until they got back into their home 48 hours later, where Queens based advocacy group DRUM helped them clean up the blood left at the scene.
“They didn't seem worried about us at all,” he said.
Body camera footage released on Friday by the state attorney general showed the entire interaction, which lasted less than three minutes.
Graphic footage was released last week of the shooting that left Ozone Park teen Win Rozario dead after he called 911 amidst a mental health episode in March. Screenshot Via the New York Attorney General’s Office
On March 27, Alongi and Cianfrocco approached the Rozarios’ Ozone Park home after they reportedly got a call from the teen himself seeking help amid a mental health episode.
After speaking briefly with Utsho they went upstairs to the apartment, where Win was there with Ava Costa. Win then went and retrieved a pair of yellow scissors from a drawer and moved in the direction of the police, but was stopped by his mother.
Alongi almost immediately pulled out his Taser, while Cianfrocco pulled out his gun.
Alongi then fired his Taser, striking Rozario. Despite the discharge of the Taser, Ava Costa continued to hold onto her son.
“Let go of him, and back up,” the police shout. “Let go of him, miss”
Utsho, who was standing to the left of police, said, “Please don’t shoot my mother,” a phrase he continued to beg from the officers throughout the remainder of the incident.
Though at one point, his mother was able to take the scissors out of Rozario’s hands, the teen eventually grabbed them again and was almost immediately shot at least four times by the officers, the bullets flying over the heads of Ava Costa and Utsho.
Advocates and elected officials who joined the Rozario family said Rozario’s death “completely avoidable,” and blasted Alongi and Cianfrocco for missing several opportunities to deescalate the situation.
“From the moment that NYPD officers Alongi and Cianfrocco arrived, they used insulting language,” said Loyda Colon, the executive director of the Justice Committee “The NYPD's highly militarized presence, alone, scared Win.”
Colon said that the officers “recklessly escalated the situation multiple times,” and didn’t act at opportunities to detain or subdue Rozario before they fired any shots.
“What we also saw, in addition to them escalating, is that his mother, in like seconds, actually brings him down to the ground,” she said. “She takes the scissors out of his hand. What we see is Rozario standing there, nothing in his head, standing there calmly looking at officers, his mother begging them not to shoot. And then Officer Salvatore Alongi just Tases him. Tases him for no reason.”
“Win was just standing there when his mother had him on the ground,” she added. “They never came forward. They didn't take one step forward to try to detain him right there.”
Advocates and the family declined to comment on what led up to the mental health “episode” that led to Rozario’s 911 call, and also declined to shed any light on any mental health treatment or diagnoses Rozario had, arguing it was not relevant.
Utsho, who answered the door for the police, had some of the most damning comments directed at the NYPD and Adams
“I'm really angry and disgusted that the people that's supposed to serve and protect us are the ones that's killing us,” he said. “The police were so aggressive and reckless that they could have killed my mom, and me too, in our own house.”
Utsho joined the calls and said the officers should be suspended and fired for killing his brother, and admonished Adams' response, which included a misspelling of Win’s first name.
“He has to make further comments,” he said. “He needs to suspend them without pay and fire them. As a New Yorker, I'm calling out to all New Yorkers to get together. Don't let these corrupt cops and NYPD get away with killing my brother. Don't let those corrupt cops kill more people.”
A handful of city councilmembers – none of which represent Queens – also called for Adams to fire the officers involved and for the city’s police to be pulled off of mental health response calls.
“This is Mayor Adams's NYPD,” said Councilmember Shahana Hanif. “We know that Win’s murder is just another example of why the police should not be the default responders when there is a need for health centered intervention.”
Chair of the Committee on Criminal Justice Sandy Nurse echoed those sentiments.
“This is what is the result of constant defunding, constant disinvestment of our mental health ecosystem,” she said. “For two and a half years, we have seen funding for mental health programs not materialized. We're not investing in the mobile crisis team. We're not investing in alternative responses, and we should be, and we're certainly not doing it in languages for communities that don't speak English.”
“If you watched that video, from the second the door opened, the attitude was wrong,” she added. “They weren't listening, they weren't feeling the room. That was not a situation to escalate in, and it should never be a scenario that when you call for help, you end up dead.”
City Hall said that Adams would not comment further on the killing, and directed the Eagle to his previous statements on the matter.
